Seriously, I have NEVAR laughed out loud so many times (and so loudly) during an Avatar episode before. The Fortuneteller was hilarious, and the Cave of Two Lovers was funny as well, but "The Headband" overtakes both of them by MILLLLLLLES. So let's start with the basics: Sokka.

From beginning ("These are ENEMY BIRDS") to end ("Flamio sir, ...flamio"), he was a riot. I would happily see Wang Fire for the rest of the series, really! Besides, as the beard is now permanent, I don't think I'll have much of a choice .

I could go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on about Sokka, aka. Wang Fire, but I think I'll let other people handle it.

Next up, we have the whole school plot. It was fun getting to know some Fire Nation people who aren't evil, angsty, or an extra (I think I just described every Fire Nation person on the show so far, before The Headband, anyway. Heck, even Iroh is angsty now). The kids were adorable, and I'm glad to see Aang face off with the boyfriend; Northern Shaolin vs. Ba Gua baby, nothing's better. My great grandfather was trained in Ba Gua, so I'm glad that Aang won...obviously.

"I've already seen Fire Lord Ozai, and here's a picture of him I made out of noodles!"

SRSLY lovely YO.

This is becoming less and less like a "review", and more and more like rambling. Suffice it to say, the humor department worked overtime to give us this wonderful episode.

Now, the 2nd part: Kataang. I will admit, I go for the more emotional impacting aspects of this pairing ("The Desert", "The Crossroads of Destiny"), but the fluff is fun too. Katara looked GORGEOUS in her Fire Nation garb, which I hope the Gaang will continue to use from here on out (until the day of the invasion, anyway). Aang's little blushing was a very nice touch, and very expected. But of course, the big moment came later in the episode. When Aang offered Katara his hand, it was just hilarious seeing Katara reacting as if the coolest kid in her highschool is offering to dance with her, the school's bookworm who is secretly hawt. Perhaps I've seen one-too-many date movies (well, one was enough). Either way, it was hilarious.

The Dancing was wonderfully storyboarded and animated. The various kids' moves were top notch, and it was nice seeing where the Video references of Bryan spazzing out went. There was a problem here though, because my TV screen was so dark (I could never figure it out), so I think I missed a lot of detail. Still, the focus was on the Kataang Dance and it was AWESOME...AWESOME TO THE MAX. Aang is so smooth, isn't he?

Oh, and I suppose cheeks REALLY don't lie. Time for Psylum to update that icon of his.

Anyway, the Kataang portion, although mighty fluffy, was very cute and enjoyable. Hopefully this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Switching gears now, to Zuko's storyline. Again, wonderfully done, in a whole other way. Definitely not funny (except for Azula's trick of getting Zuko to spill the beans...again. Well, maybe not funny...it was just very clever), but very intriguing, and of course, heartbreaking. Iroh not talking was a little unsettling, even though I might know why. Still, as I've already heard of Greg Baldwin's voice and thought it great, I think it does a disservice to the man to try to ease the fans into his voice (I don't get how that works...if we don't hear his voice, how do we adjust to it)? Still, I don't think that's what the writers are doing. Iroh is not talking because he has been deeply hurt, just like when Lu Ten died. In a way, the "son" he's turned his fatherly attention to has died as well, betraying him in the moment of truth.

Well, ok, not "died". I think Zuko's still able to redeem himself, by far. What I see in his actions is a prime example of what a teenager does: irrational, extreme, and without thought (hey, I'm still a teen, so I can say that). Beneath his frustration and...uh...badly chosen words towards Iroh, lies exactly what he revealed near the end: he is loosing his mind contemplating the loss of his honor again, should the Avatar turn up alive. He is confused more than ever, and confusion can lead a man to do very bad things. I think when Zuko finds out the mistake he has made in hiring "Combustion Man", he will start to turn towards "good", whatever that may mean to Zuko. I plead to all those who are condemning him for his actions to think about who we're dealing here: Zuko has not matured, he is not an adult, and certainly does not have an adult frame of mind. He is still a child in many ways, and a confused one at that. He will continue to make mistakes. Also, he is starting to learn from them: his "trust" in Azula is visibly waning everyday, and he has admitted that what he has sought for so long is not what he thought it'd be. Give it time.

Whew, that was a lot. Once more though, watching Avatar on TV seems to speed it up, and that was the only downside in this episode; it felt rushed, once again. Still, I doubt it's anyone's fault by mine.

I was right, Zuko was meeting Combustion Man near the ocean, hearing it on my big screen with the surround sound really brought it out. And I was also double right on him being almost twice Zuko's height. Which in Avatar may not mean anything as I can remember atleast two other instances where character height kinda shifted....

Lots of things in this episode truly amused me to know end. I love the fire nation student giving Aang the "I'm watching you" motion after he got jealous over Aang's interaction with his girl friend. But I think the thing that made me laugh the most was the painful exchanges of romance between Zuko and Mai. Oh world hating teenager love. So prefect and stereotypical. 8D An enjoyable episode over all. But I think I heard the cries of ZukoXKatara fans from my house. Even though I don't associate myself completely to one of the ships I did like the cute interactions between Aang and Katara.

OH! And I love the longer peak we got at the fire nation and more specifically their social settings. The way in which the schools were run which such a military-like atmosphere was really interesting. (And of course to be expected.) The fact that they had to say oaths and the students were prohibited from truly expressing themselves was very parallel to a lot of world countries both in the past and this modern time. Its good to see them drawing themes like this from real life examples. Makes the show more well rounded I find. Can't wait for the next episode.

tonight's episode was good. It wasn't that great but seeing Uncle was comforting. I liked that he didn't talk at all, it was really cool to feel his emotions visually. I think i need to thank the animators? for doing an awesome job. Sokka was hilarious (Wang Fire, "GO TO YOUR ROOM!" ) and sorry but Katara does not look good in FN clothes.

other than that, nice episode. But i still wish Toph would get more screen time!

Btw, was the kid from the FN school (the one with the Sokka-like hair) a boy or a girl? I don't believed they mentioned his/her name & i couldn't tell

Watching it on my big screen I also noticed that Iroh shed a tear when he saw how effed up Zuko was without his advice, like he knew that he was only going to make his situation worse, ie, hiring an assassin...

Awesome episode!There were a lot of funny moments in this episode like Aang's hotman greeting to the Firenation people. Sokka posing as Aang's "Dad" was just a LOL moment. I also loved that Kataang dance sequence. Zuko is such a jerk. He broke Iroh's spirit. Iroh barely talked to him which was a shame cause I wanted to hear his new voice actor. Can't wait for next weeks!

Avatar tried the school/bully/show-kids-how-to-have-fun cliche, and it worked. Even though it's cliche, it did it in an entertaining way.

-Loved how Aang avoided every punch that bully pulled; didn't like the very cliche moment when Aang got blamed for it.

-Sokka was hilarious, as always.

-The dance scene was cool. Best Kataang moment yet.

As for Zuko's part, it is was very well done, but all to short.

-Zuko was trying to convince his uncle that what he had done was right (and probably trying to convince himself).

-The Maiko moment was... well, if Maiko is going to be this short and boring, I'm going to turn against it. I also found it interesting that Mai didn't put up a fight when Azula sent her away.

-What is Azula saying about having Zuko's back? She's the one who pinned him with the impending return of the Avatar!

-Second meeting with Iroh: I think Zuko was lying to get Iroh to cooperate when he said honor wasn't what he expected. I need only point to how he fell apart when Iroh refused. He shouldn't have expected anything less, he was asking him to help kill the Avatar, who Iroh now supports!

-Poor Iroh, with his imprisonment and his undeserving nephew. That tear made me want to slap Zuko a million times.

-The bounty hunter scene at the end gave little more information than the preview. Can't wait to see him in action. Also can't shake the feeling that he's tied to Koh.

As for the preview: All I have to say now is "Aww man, not Suki!" and "Yay! New spirit!". And that that preview was very Naruto-esque.

The whole thing was absolutely brilliant. I actually found The Awakening to be a let down, but this episode really got me going again on the Avatar bandwagon. Animation was sweet when they were all dancing. Everything was just perfect about this episode. Everything, I tell you.

Alot of hormones in the air though, apparently. OMGBLUSHINGANDFRENCHING.SHIELDTHEYOUNGONESEYES

EDIT: Lulz, real world reference to a certain country with certain surpression in the Fire Nation...hinthintnudgenudge.

Sokka's voice actor deserves an award for his work this episode (oh, and I guess the writers, too)--because he was downright hilarious. Perfect delivery. I think I laughed at every single one of his lines. Speaking of which, when is Toph getting any decent lines?

Ahem, anyway. Animation was amazingly beautiful, and so was the Aang/Katara dance! It was beautifully choreographed and animated, and the music--the MUSIC! It was beautiful and somehow managed to sound epic, too. The music people deserve an award, too.

Loved Aang "beating up" Oonji's boyfriend. I always kind of thought Aang would be lost without his bending, but I guess I was wrong .

So shut it all you "filler" naysayers--we got our first look at the Fire Nation, we learned they (well, the young people at least) would embrace change and a free-er lifestyle if things changed (which would be important post-war, don't ya think?), and Zuko's finally gone off the deep end and hired his own personal hitman. And we got to see Iroh! I mean yeah, I almost cried every time he was on the screen--BUT STILL! Iroh. Love the man.

OMG!!!!!!! I just saw the headband!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so awsome how Aang and Katara danced!!!! I was falling even more madly in love with Kataang than ever before!!!!!!! But i loved sokka through the whole episode!!! him and his beard were hilarious! (go to your room!) I especially loved when he jumped over everybody in the beginning!:D Also the partwhen that he was all "cave after cave after cave......."KATAANG FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i loved that episode, that was hilarious when Sokka and Katara disguised themselves as Aang's parents...it will be funny to watch Sokka with a beard on for a while :p.

That dance was pretty neat, i never knew Aang could dance FN style , also that dance was so a Kataang moment...i could tell Katara wanted to dance with him, but she was trying to pull off some classic excuses, it was all great.

The moments with Zuko and Iroh was kind of touching, very impressive where Iroh didnt give him advice, that shows how much Zuko messed up IMO, and he is making it worse by hiring an assassin (cyclops man LOL )

Logged

Keeps: Roku bending the elements at the same time, Water Tribe subs in DoBS, Korra's hat, the Probending arena!